|
1) Iran: Women’s Rights Leader Detained
The Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) is reporting that on March 3, 2008, Parvin Ardalan, an Iranian women's rights activist, writer, and journalist, was stopped at the airport in Iran as she was leaving for Stockholm to receive the Olaf Palme award for her work on the "One Million Signatures Campaign" for legislative reform in Iran. The objective of this campaign is to pressure the Iranian government, through the collection of signatures, to end discriminatory laws against women in Iran. The 72 hour delay in Stockholm caused Ardalan to miss the award ceremony in Sweden on March 6, 2008.
For more information go to: www.learningpartnership.org/advocacy/alerts/iranwomenarrests0307
2) Pakistan: CIVICUS Demands the Government Protect Civil Society Organizations
Following recent attacks on both local and international civil society organizations working in Pakistan, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation urges the newly elected government of Pakistan to protect such groups. In particular, CIVICUS recommends that the people or groups responsible for these violent incidents be brought to justice, that the families of the victims be compensated, and that the safety and security of all citizens, especially the staff of NGOs, is guaranteed.
Go to: www.civicus.org/csw/Pakistan.Alert.28.02.08.htm
3) Tibet: Demonstrations Violently Suppressed
On March 10, the Chinese government violently suppressed peaceful demonstrations in occupied Tibet. The demonstration was initially led by the monks of Sera and Drepung and marked the occasion of the 49th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day. According to the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), during the demonstration Chinese police deliberately provoked violence by dressing as monks and lashing out at the peaceful demonstrators. Dozens have been arrested, and several monasteries have been sealed off. Estimates on how many have died in the crackdown vary. IBIB reports that over 80 people have been killed, while the Tibet Institute claims there have been 102 confirmed deaths.
Many groups have made statements on behalf of the demonstrators. Specifically, Que Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam has issued a statement calling for an urgent UN inquiry into the violence. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has also issued a statement calling on the Chinese government to cease the violence and open a meaningful dialogue with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, as the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. The UBCV also calls on the United Nations, world governments, parliaments, and the whole international community to press the Chinese to cease repression and concretely address the Tibetan people’s legitimate demands.
Moreover, Tseten Norbu, member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Executive Director of the Tibet Institute, and World Movement participant, made the following statement:
"On the 10th of March, on the occasion of the 49th Tibetan Uprising Day, the Tibetans in occupied Tibet took to the streets of Lhasa demonstrating peacefully with slogans like Free Tibet, Tibet Belongs to Tibetans, Long Live H. H. The Dalai Lama etc. The demonstration was initially led by the monks of Sera and Drepung. When the Chinese police tried to stop the demonstrators going to Jokhang Temple, the lay people - men and women- joined them in stopping the Chinese police arresting the monks. Thousands of the civilians joined the movement and the demonstrators were ruthlessly beaten, dragged and killed on the spot. In many parts of the city, indiscriminate shooting at the demonstrators took place and the death toll till today stands at 102. Unconfirmed estimates are between 200 to 300.
The excessive use of force and the resulted killings set a chain reaction and demonstrations spread to different parts of occupied Tibet such as Dzigatse, Phenpo, Lhasa, Amdo kirti Monastry, Machu and Gansu. This has spread to small towns and villages as well.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has called upon the international community to send an investigating delegation to find the abuses there terming it as Cultural Genocide. Kalon Tripa (the Prime Minister/ government in Exile) and the Tibetan Parliament in Exile have also issued separate statements calling for international support.
Our immediate concern is the safety and the wellbeing of the Tibetans living under Chinese occupation. As such we appeal to the International community to send fact finding delegations to investigate the excesses and abuse of Human Rights Situation there. We also call upon the United Nations to send a delegation and to intervene at this juncture by using their good office to prevail upon China to observe the Universality of the Human Rights that they have signed. The international community must urge the Chinese authority to stop the ongoing violence and respect the rights of the Tibetan People to demonstrate peacefully.
We feel that it is time for the international community not only to issue statements but act upon by calling your own governments, parliaments and head of the governments to impress upon the Chinese government in this senseless killing of the Tibetans and to ensure their rights."
For the statement made by Que Me, go to: www.queme.net/eng/news_detail.php?numb=953
For the statement made by the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, go to: www.queme.net/eng/news_detail.php?numb=954
4) Armenia: NGOs and Opposition Parties Call for Mass Rally
Armenian NGOs and opposition parties are circulating calls for a mass rally this Friday, March 21, to mourn the deaths of those killed in clashes between protestors and police in Yerevan on March 1. Protesters are being asked to stand in silence, in a single row. The line will extend from Liberty Square through Northern Avenue, Abovyan Street, Republic Square, Vazgen Sargsyan Street, and Italy Street. In the latter section, the line will be situated on the walkway facing the Prosecutor General's Office. Protestors may wear black armbands to mourn those who died, and may carry candles.
The State of Emergency that has been imposed in Yerevan since the clashes is expected to be lifted March 20. However, the government has permanently altered the law, making it more difficult to organize protests, and continues to detain hundreds of opposition activists. The Council on Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has called for "an independent, impartial and transparent inquiry initiated to clarify what actually happened during the confrontations in Yerevan between the police and opposition demonstrators on 1 March." The situation in Armenia remains highly precarious, and it is unclear how events will unfold.
After the results of the February 19 presidential election were disputed, continuous rallies in the capital drew tens of thousands of protestors with crowds swelling to an estimated 200,000 at the height of the protests. These mass meetings ended on March 1, when government forces violently disbanded the protestors and President Robert Kocharyan declared a State of Emergency. The government has reported eight people killed and more than 131 injured from the resulting clash, although unconfirmed reports claim there were many more casualties. Opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian is currently under house arrest, although he has been allowed to attend court hearings that challenge the election results. Armenian police report that 59 people have been arrested in connection to the protests, including many opposition party leaders, with hundreds of other activists detained for questioning and released.
Under rules of the State of Emergency, media were ordered to cite only official sources when covering national news, and Internet access has been curtailed. Beginning March 13, these restraints were nominally eased, but journalists in Armenia have reported continued restriction, including censorship of newspapers. In addition, limitations remain in place on the ability of nongovernmental organizations and political parties to function within the country.
During the elections, there were widespread reports of intimidation, threats and violence against voters and opposition activists, as well as reports of ballot stuffing and electoral fraud. According to official results, Serzh Sarkisian, the current Prime Minister and preferred candidate of Mr. Kocharyan, received 53%, while Mr. Ter-Petrossian, a former president, received 21.5%. Mr. Sarkisian needed over 50% to win on the first round. The OSCE judged the elections as basically in line with international standards, even though they noted "bad or very bad" counts at 14% of the polling places.
NGOs in Armenia have been actively monitoring and documenting events, and have issued statements condemning the election and the government crack down, and calling for a return of civil liberties.
For further information, go to:
• Journalists from Meltex Inc.’s A1+ News gathered video footage of the protests, despite police breaking two of the cameras being used by their journalists. (http://www.a1plus.am/en, http://www.youtube.com/a1plusnews).
• Armenian Committee of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly sent a letter to the OSCE requesting that the final election report more fully reflect election irregularities, as well as an appeal to the international community for assistance (http://www.wmd.org/documents/31908achca.pdf; http://www.wmd.org/documents/31908Helsinki2.pdf).
• Helsinki Association released a repudiation of the election results and an appeal for support (http://www.wmd.org/documents/31908Helsinki.pdf).
• A coalition of Armenian media NGOs have released a statement demanding the reestablishment of press freedoms (http://www.hetq.am/eng/politics/7815/).
• Groups in Georgia have reacted quickly to support their colleagues in Armenia. A coalition of Georgian NGOs organized a petition to the international community for assistance to Armenian opposition leaders (http://www.wmd.org/documents/31908Coalition.pdf).
• Footage of the events has been posted on a blog. (http://marti21.blogspot.com)
Daily news updates are available in Russian and English from the Caucasus Switchboard at http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/
5) Cuba: Cuban Police Break Up Sit-in
According to Directorio Revolucionario Democratico Cubano (Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate), on Monday, April 21, Cuban police broke up a peaceful sit-in of the Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) at a Havana prison. Ten women from the group were at the prison to deliver a letter with their plea to the Interior Minister to release their loved ones who have been imprisoned. This was the group’s second attempt to deliver the letter. Confronted by the police, the women laid on the ground with their arms locked. Police picked them up and dragged them into buses. Although the women were not beaten, they were mistreated and sustained several bruises on their arms and legs.
For the last five years, the Ladies in White have staged demonstrations every Sunday challenging the government's crackdown and jailing in 2003 of 75 dissident writers and independent journalists. Every Sunday, the group holds a silent protest march down Havana's busy Fifth Avenue, demanding the release of their jailed relatives. More than 50 dissidents remain incarcerated. The Cuban government accuses the activists and other opposition members of working with U.S. authorities to undermine the island's Communist system, a charge the dissidents and Washington deny.
For information from Directorio Revolucionario Democratico Cubano, go to: www.directorio.org/pressreleases/note.php?note_id=1962
For information from the Miami Herald, go to: www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/504647.html
|
News on projects, issues and experiences; articles and reports; news of events and information on groups and organizations, from people working on youth activism and democracy issues.
Please remember, we do not monitor groups, and do not wish to censor material. We hope the information here is truthful, but we expect that participants reading this information will try to gather as much information as they can about these groups and current affairs.
1) Project: Youth Democracy Camp (Papua New Guinea)
Transparency International (Papua New Guinea) Inc. will be running a seven day Youth Democracy Camp in Goroka from June 23 to 30, 2008.
Approximately 50 secondary schools students from all over Papua New Guinea (PNG) will participate at this camp in a series of workshops, teaching the skills of political participation as well as taking part in political simulation.
Objectives:
- to increase youth empowerment and skills in politics and good governance;
- to empower youths so they can be active citizens in promoting good governance in their community and PNG;
- to develop future leaders through raising awareness of the principles of transparency, accountability and good leadership;
- to empower youth with basic human rights information and democratic philosophy that can be disseminated through peer group discussions role modeling.
Methodology is based on the participatory Approach through:
- role modeling through prominent speakers;
- crisis simulation;
- workshops (debate, group discussions, writing petition, mock court, etc.);
- films.
For more information contact Mr. Angus Ali, youthagainstcorruption [at] gmail.com
2) Report: "Stop Racism!" action week (NIS)
From March 14 to 21, 2008 the annual international week of enlightenment actions "Stop Racism!" took place in Russia and the other Newly Independent States (NIS). This year 17 groups from Russia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan organized various events for tolerance and against racism in 20 regions.
This was already the fourth action week organized by the international Youth Human Rights Movement, the Youth Network against racism and intolerance and the international network "Young Europe" within the framework of the European Action Week of "UNITED for intercultural action". More than 1000 people took part in events conducted during the week. The largest action was carried out in the Gorlovka State Pedagogical University of Foreign Languages (Ukraine) and it attracted over 400 students of several faculties.
The prep-team of "Stop Racism" recommended to speak and to act against such forms of racism which is observed in everyday life, here and now. Therefore participants form different regions held actions devoted to official / governmental nationalism, to xenophobia concerning people from the Caucasus and migrants from the former Soviet states. Open lectures and lessons for students and schoolchildren, film screenings and discussions, special seminars within university courses, public debates were carried out in different regions. Leaflets of the project "Epigraph" with extracts from writings and speeches of famous people were stuck on over the walls in several cities.
For more information, please, contact the prep-team: stopracism [at] anti-fa.ru or visit www.stopracism.anti-fa.ru.
3) News: Albanian Movement for Democracy established (Albania)
A group of five Albanian youth activists came up with the initiative to establish the Albanian Movement for Democracy. The newly born movement declares that they support and back up in their entirety the values and principles of the WYMD, and took it further to make an impact on developing the Albanian democracy more practically, with better and more efficient impact on legislature and institutional activities of the government and state institutions.
Recently a website of the Movement was launched, which can be reached at www.levizjashqiptare.org. It is in Albanian, but the English version of the website is being developed as well.
For more information, please, contact Mr. Jonel Kristo, kristj20 [at] uwosh.edu.
4) Report: EU must pay more attention to supporting civil societies (Slovenia)
The international conference "Giving a stronger voice to civil society in the European Neighbourhood – Development of civil dialogue and partnership relations between civil society, national governments and EU institutions" was held at Brdo, Slovenia on April 2, 2008 in the framework of the Slovenian Presidency in the European Union.
The conference brought together around 150 civil society representatives from 29 European countries, officials from the EU Institutions, as well as experts from the region and the EU. Russian NGOs were represented by the "Young Europe" development programmes coordinator Konstantin Baranov.
On April 1, at the informal roundtable before the conference, the NGO delegates from the 11 neighbouring countries (Western Balkans, Turkey and Eastern Europe, including Russia) presented the country reports on the state of cooperation between the EU, their respective national governments and civil society organisations, which were prepared as a result of the survey conducted in December 2007 – March 2008 (available at http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=173&limit=1&limitstart=4).
The outcome of those country reports and conference debates resulted in Ljubljana Declaration, consisting of policy recommendations to the EU institutions and national governments (full text available at: http://www.ecas-citizens.eu/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=240&Itemid=). This document is intended to contribute to the improvement of the dialogue between EU institutions, governments and civil society.
The conference is the continuation of the advocacy campaign carried out by ECAS (European Citizen Action Service, www.ecas.org) calling on the EU to develop a coherent and coordinated strategy towards sustainable civil society development beyond the EU borders. The concluding event of the campaign, which will take place in Zadar, Croatia on September 25-26, 2008, will review the EU and national governments response to the Ljubljana declaration.
5) News: Human Rights Education Youth Network launches a new campaign (Hungary)
The meeting of the participants, partners and friends of the Human Rights Education Youth Network (HREYN) took place from March 31 to April 6 in the European Youth Centre (Budapest). It was devoted to the awareness-raising campaign named "The equality is needed".
Participants from more than 20 countries of the Council of Europe, representatives of youth and civil organizations, trainers in the sphere of citizenship and human rights education planned the awareness-raising campaign for 2008-2009, which in 2008 will be conducted in the framework of the European year of Intercultural Dialogue. The goal of the campaign is to bring up to date the problems of youth inequality in various spheres in different European countries, which is fixed at the legislative level and linked with stereotypes existing in our societies.
The main topics are: intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, racism, equality at the labor market, equality for people with limited abilities. A campaign for confronting hate speech will be carried out in Ukraine, Russia and Poland. Various awareness-raising and educational events for intercultural dialogue will be organized in the Newly Independent States area.
For more information, please, contact darek.grzemny [at] gmail.com.
6) Report: WYMD commemorates the victims in Armenia (Ukraine)
On April 9 40 days have passed since the violent dispersal of the demonstrations in Yerevan, organized to protest against the disputable results of elections in Armenia. During this dispersal at least 8 persons were killed and several hundreds wounded. Besides, an unknown number of people were imprisoned.
On this very day, when the Orthodox believers usually commemorate their dead, the new president Serzh Sargisyan, who sanctioned the violence, had his inauguration. Up to the moment no actions were made to investigate crimes, many people are still arrested and the situation in general has not been cleared yet.
On this date, which coincided with the International Day of Youth Actions for Human Rights, actions of protest and memory were organized in three countries – Armenia, Russia and Ukraine.
In Kyiv the action in memory of the victims took place before the Armenian Embassy. The picket was organized by the representatives of the World Youth Movement for Democracy and was supported by the Armenian human rights defenders and members of the Youth Human Rights Movement – Ukraine.
The participants didn't make any political demands. They held only white linen with black ribbons, carnations and candles. "We have nothing to say, everything was said. We don't understand what can be celebrated today", - said Anastasia Nikitina, the member of the WYMD Working Committee. Young people laid wreathes. In general about 30 persons from such countries as Armenia, Serbia, Great Britain, Belarus, Georgia, Norway, USA, Russia and Ukraine, who were participating in the WMD Fifth Assembly, took part in the action.
The participants distributed leaflets in English, Russian and Ukrainian: "What is being celebrated, Serzh?" – was written on them – "40 days ago in Yerevan 8 people were killed, more then 100 were arrested to inaugurate 1 president today".
Photos from the action available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/dimopot/ArmenianEmbassy.
7) Report: Students protest against Mugabe regime (Zimbabwe)
Following the presidential election in the country, the situation in Zimbabwe is far from being normal: there is heavy police presence in the streets and people are being beaten up indiscriminately. In fact, the country is technically under a state of emergence. Moreover, Zimbabwe former president Mugabe decided to boycott the SADC heads of States meeting.
In response to such a situation the National Students Union of Zimbabwe decided to launch protests at universities to feed into other initiatives aimed at pushing the Mugabe regime to accept the people's will.
On April 15 and 16 the organization initiated students protests at two of the country’s leading universities: the University of Zimbabwe (Harare) and at the National University of Science and Technology (Bulawayo), the last one being very successful.
Young activists hope to build the momentum and they have lined up a series of protests at Universities across the country.
For more information, please, contact Mr. Clever Bere at cleverbere [at] gmail.com.
8) News: Sentence to Andrey Kim: contradicts the law and the common sense (Belarus)
Belarusian young activist Andrey Kim was sentenced to 1,5 years of jail by the court on a charge of participating in an unauthorized protest action (on January 10) and assault of the official of the State Auto Inspection (January 21).
The independent observers state that there are no convincing evidences of his guilt. The other figurants of the process were sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment. Two more were fined.
On January 10 protest actions against the decree that obliges all individual entrepreneurs to hire not more than 3 persons (only members of their family) took part in several cities of Belarus. In Minsk the participants of this peaceful action were detained (27 of them – arrested, 23 – convicted). The next action was on January 21. During this one 30 persons were arrested – among them the activist of the youth organization "Initiative" Andrey Kim. He was sentenced to 15-days administrative arrest. He was also accused of using violence against a policeman.
On February 7 human rights defenders and famous public figures filed a petition to release the activist of opposition under their personal guarantee. On February 14 the Central court of Minsk did not change its mind.
On February 29 Andrey Kim was accused of another criminal case – organizing and preparing actions destroying public order together with other 14 persons who participated in the action on January 10.
Andrey always expressed his civil position openly. In 2007 he was an observer of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee. Then he became an active participant of the youth organization "Initiative", within which he arranged and supported actions of solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners.
The international community considers Andrey Kim to be a political prisoner and demands for his discharge (http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2008/4/23/6054/, http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2008/4/22/6007/).
Check out WYMD's Resource Page
for toolkits, guides, and more articles.
|
1) Moscow's New Leadership Duo Vows Harmony (Der Spiegel)
March 3, 2008
Dmitry Medvedev has won the Russian election as planned, with more than 70 percent of the vote. But is he Russia's new strongman? He now has to stand his ground alongside Vladimir Putin who has left him a difficult legacy: inflation, corruption, social conflict and rifts within the Kremlin bureaucracy.
It was an easy victory that vaulted Dmitry Medvedev into a difficult job. He celebrated it on Sunday evening with a concert on Red Square where he, flanked by Vladimir Putin, told around 20,000 mostly young people that he would continue the policies of his predecessor. Putin too showed himself delighted with the election outcome.
The future Russian president got just over 70 percent of the vote, a remarkably similar result to Putin's four years ago. This was hardly a real election campaign - more a form of karaoke with the lyrics dictated by Putin, and with a decidedly bored national audience looking on.
The only serious opposition candidate, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who got well below 20 percent, waxed lyrical about the days of Stalin. The Communists' true share of the vote is likely to have been a little higher, because election fraud in Russia's remote provinces is usually at the expense of the Communist Party. The two other presidential candidates, far-right populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky (who got around 10 percent) and Andrei Bogdanov of the small Democratic Party, who had to make do with just over one percent, are Kremlin marionettes with clown-like features.
Putin's crown prince is likely to have got the best election results -- well above 90 percent -- in the North Caucusus republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria, where criminal clans rule with the methods of Latin American dictatorships: blatant election fraud, murder, torture and kidnapping of opposition politicians.
Medvedev's smooth liberal rhetoric such as his banal statement "Freedom is better than non-freedom" seems like mockery to many citizens living in these crisis-hit regions. And it doesn't look as if the placebo liberalism of the future president will change the tense situation in the explosive regions of the Russian empire. The manipulated 99 percent results for Medvedev near the Caucusus mountains are no barometer for the true political sentiment. Instead they herald future uprisings.
Like Putin in the Duma elections, Medvedev achieved his best results in the regions which are far removed from European ideas about the rule of law. In big cities, especially Moscow and St. Petersburg, his results are far more modest. The citizens of modern service-based metropolises don't like it when they are governed by authoritarian clans, as if they were on the Kazakh steppe. Medvedev lacks the active support of the intelligentsia and the middle class. These are not good pre-conditions for the breakthrough he promised in the direction of economic reforms and the transformation of Russia into a country of modern, competitive high technologies.
At an expanded State Council meeting in the Kremlin three weeks before the election, Putin admitted that Russia had not managed to transform itself from a commodity-export economy into an "innovation economy." "We are still modernizing our economy in a very fragmented way," noted the outgoing president. At the same meeting, Putin openly confessed to a Russia that, even after eight years of his rule, still has some of the same problems that drove the Soviet Union to ruin: namely "excessive centralization" and the "colossal public sector," which employs some 25 million people.
Read the full article:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,538922,00.html
Visit Der Spiegel website:
http://www.spiegel.de/
2) Malaysia's Leaders Suffer Setback (Time)
March 9, 2008
The outcome of Malaysia's general election on Saturday was expected to be the usual landslide for the country's ruling political bloc. After all, for as long as the Southeast Asian nation has been independent, the National Front alliance has been in power. Even opposition leaders admitted they wouldn't win control of the federal government. Instead, most viewed the voting as a referendum on the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose popularity has been hurt by higher living costs and rising racial tensions in this multiethnic nation.
Voters did send Abdullah a message—a strongly worded one. While the National Front maintained a simple majority in parliament, it lost the crucial two-thirds control Abdullah had promised in pre-election campaigning that his coalition would maintain. Even more stunning: the ruling alliance lost power in four of Malaysia's 13 states. Before the polls, only one state, Kelantan, was controlled by the opposition. By the time the dust settled on Saturday, three heartland states—Kedah, Perak and Kelantan—along with manufacturing-based states Selangor and Penang were all in the hands of the opposition. All of these states will now be ruled not by the National Front but, in most cases, by coalitions between the Islamist PAS party, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the multiethnic People's Justice Party.
The outcome was so devastating for the National Front that Abdullah's future as Prime Minister is now in doubt. "This is a new dawn for Malaysia," said Anwar Ibrahim, a former Deputy Prime Minister, who is the spiritual head of the People's Justice Party and the opposition's most charismatic figure. "The people have voted decisively for a new era."
What a difference four years makes. In 2004, Abdullah's party won a record mandate, capturing 64% of the popular vote and 91% of seats in parliament. The overwhelming victory was due, in part, to the attraction of a fresh face—after 22 years in power, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad handed over the reigns to Abdullah in 2003. Abdullah also scored points by positioning himself as a progressive reformer; he promised to clean up widespread graft and strengthen civil liberties.
But his popularity clearly hasn't lasted. Many of the country's ethnic Chinese and Indians are angry about the continuation of a national affirmative-action plan that favors Malays, the country's largest ethnic group, in everything from education to government contracts. Saturday's results showed ethnic minorities made good on their vows to defect from the National Front, with many switching to the DAP camp. "People can only put up with so much," says DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, who is set to become Penang's new Chief Minister. "Dissatisfaction has reached a boiling point."
But it wasn't just ethnic minorities who abandoned Abdullah's coalition. The P.M. heads the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), a Malay-based party that dominates the 14-party National Front. In a clear sign that UMNO can no longer automatically count on Malay votes, two of Abdullah's former cabinet members lost their parliamentary seats. One beneficiary was PAS, some of whose leaders have previously advocated instituting Islamic Shari'a law nationwide. With crime rates rising, PAS candidates struck a chord by preaching that their spiritual values would be more successful in managing society than UMNO's policies.
Unusually for a country that places a premium on stability, clashes between police and voters marred the polling. In the northern state of Terengganu, which the National Front held, police sprayed tear gas on hundreds of PAS demonstrators who had gathered to protest what they believed was electoral fraud committed by the National Front.
Vote-rigging claims are hardly uncommon, although the National Front flatly rejects them. On March 5, Human Rights Watch, the New York-based NGO, issued a report criticizing the way in which it believes the National Front has maintained its grip on power. In a public statement, Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said: "Once again, elections in Malaysia are grossly unfair to the opposition. Malaysia’s ruling coalition is too comfortable with the status quo to allow reforms that would level the playing field." Among the watchdog's claims were accusations that the ruling coalition received a disproportionate amount of media coverage; that repeated attempts by opposition parties to organize rallies had been stymied; and that voting irregularities were rampant. In the state of Selangor, for instance, opposition party PAS says it found two 128-year-old citizens registered to vote.
Nevertheless, the opposition's unprecedented showing on Saturday proved that their voices had been heard. In a brief statement on Saturday evening, Abdullah said that the poll results proved that democracy did work in Malaysia—and that defeat was part of the democratic process. But he quickly rejected any calls for his resignation. On Monday, he will meet with Malaysia's king to ask for permission to form a new federal government. But whether he will survive as party leader at UMNO’s convention later this year is still up in the air. He could even be ousted as Prime Minister by the National Front. Unlike many aspects of Malaysian democracy, that script is still unwritten.
Read the full article:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1720739,00.html
Visit Time website:
http://www.time.com/
3) Burma constitution leaked amid 'No' vote push (Times Online)
March 31, 2008
A campaign for a ’No’ vote to the constitution is growing among pro-democracy activists
Burma’s generals intend to block the Burmese democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from ever leading her country, according to leaked copies of a new constitution drafted by the country’s military junta.
The 194-page draft constitution, which was circulating yesterday among Burmese and foreign journalists in Rangoon, states that anyone with family connections to foreigners is not eligible to stand as president. But the document, which will be put to a constitutional referendum in May, does not impose the same restriction on ministers or those who run as members of parliament.
Ms Suu Kyi’s two sons by her late husband, the British academic Michael Aris, are British citizens, which would seem to rule her out unequivocally from the highest post. But the clause on the eligibility of parliamentary candidates only eliminates anyone with "allegiance or adherence" to a foreign government.
According to the British government, Ms Suu Kyi no longer has British citizenship, although her continuing support for foreign sanctions against Burma might be taken by the junta as evidence of such "adherence". The junta may use this ambiguity as a bargaining chip with Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy - in order, for example, to encourage her to drop her support for sanctions in return for release from her continuing house arrest and a seat in parliament.
Overall, foreign governments and members of the opposition in Burma regard the constitution as a means of perpetuating the power of the military dictatorship under a new, civilian guise, and a "Vote No" campaign is gradually gathering momentum.
The leaked version of the constitution, which has still not been seen by ordinary Burmese just weeks before the referendum, is the first document of its kind in Burma to guarantee basic rights such as freedom to form political parties and unions, as well as freedom of the press and religion and the rights of minorities. However, these seemingly liberal precepts are outweighed by clauses which would leave power securely in the hands of the army which has ruled the country since 1962.
The constitution states that it cannot be amended for ten years and, even then, only with a three quarters parliamentary majority. Since one quarter of seats in both houses of parliament is reserved for members of the military, the country’s current rulers will continue to exercise a veto.
Although the president would notionally be a civilian, he would be allowed to transfer full legislative, executive and judicial power to the commander in chief of the armed forces for as long as a year in case of a state of emergency. Rather than coming into force immediately after the May referendum, the constitution will be activated only after the convening of a new parliament, due to be elected in 2010.
"Not everything in here is bad, perhaps 80 per cent in OK," said a western observer in Rangoon. "If this was coming out of East Timor, for example, you’d say this was something to work with. But with this government there is simply no trust. Given their record it’s difficult to grant them the benefit of the doubt."
A statement from the All Burma Monks’ Alliance and the ’88 Generation Students, which launched the vast pro-democracy demonstrations which were suppressed by the government last September, said: “We all are determined to "Vote No" on the junta’s sham constitution in the upcoming referendum. As the military junta is aggressively and desperately pressuring the people to vote in favour of the constitution, our challenge to reject it will surely be met with a bloody response by the junta."
Read the full article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3655152.ece
Visit Times Online website:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
4) Armenian president takes office (BBC News)
April 9, 2008
Weeks after a disputed election prompted mass protests and violent unrest, Serzh Sarkisian has been sworn in as Armenian President.
The former prime minister took the oath as opposition supporters gathered for a memorial ceremony for eight people killed during the clashes.
The violence erupted in March after riot police dispersed demonstrators who claimed the election had been rigged.
A state of emergency was imposed and dozens of activists were arrested.
Public demonstrations were banned after the clashes, which left seven civilians and a police officer dead.
International observers had given a largely positive assessment of the 19 February election, although they said there had been serious flaws, particularly in the counting of votes.
According to Armenian media, 200 people gathered on Wednesday for the memorial ceremony outside the mayor's office in the capital Yerevan, where the clashes took place.
Police tried to turn them away, saying the rally had not been permitted.
A military parade was due to take place after Mr Sarkisian's inauguration as president.
He was chosen by his predecessor, Robert Kocharian, and was credited with winning 53% of the vote.
Read the full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7338321.stm
Visit BBC News website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
5) The flame of democracy fading (Times Online)
April 11, 2008
Demonstrations over the Olympics remind us that freedom is losing out to authoritarianism
There's a nostalgic quality to the angry demonstrations that have greeted the arrival of the Olympic flame in Europe and the United States this week.
For some time now the modern wisdom that has brought young malcontents on to the streets of London, Paris and San Francisco has held the US and its dependable ally Britain to be the root of all evil. Governments from Beijing to Caracas could trample their citizens into the ground and you wouldn't fill a telephone box with people upset about it. But call for the heads of the warmongers Bush and Blair and a million pairs of brave feet would take to the streets to support you.
So it's a quaint departure for those same crowds, albeit in much smaller numbers, to protest loudly against the actions of men for whom tyranny is a chosen method of governing rather than a silly label attached by adolescent-brained politicians.
The mêlées this week actually have real historical resonance, an echo of the Cold War. They are a reminder of the days when the Olympics were a battlefield in the great ideological struggle of the time. The US-led boycott of Moscow in 1980 and the Soviet Union's retaliation in Los Angeles four years later were in the end no more than gestures, as meaningful as all the other Games of the era when the two superpowers fought for gold medals as keenly as they fought for the affections of Third World leaders.
The 2008 version of the battle is lower key but this little struggle is a mirror on the most important simple political fact of our times - the global struggle for supremacy between liberalism and its enemies.
When the Cold War ended, it was widely assumed to mark the glorious culmination of the steady march towards freedom that had characterised human history. This is an old temptation of historians: the belief - call it Hegelian or Whiggish - that some great unseen hand was moving humanity in a direction called progress.
For a while it looked right. Since 1974 90 countries have become free. By 2000 60 per cent of the world's people lived in democracies. Even holdouts against the tide seemed only to make the point. In the 1990s the persistence of communist rule in China was treated as the exception that was merely testing the rule. The Chinese leaders were on the wrong side of history. The economic liberalism they had embraced as a defensive mechanism would soon force a political revolution.
But for the past few years democracy has been in global retreat. Notwithstanding a small occasional triumph here and there, in Latin America, Africa and in Eastern Europe, the tide has been turned.
The most significant defeat of all has been in China, where the success of limited capitalism has not been matched by political freedom. Two decades on, and three times as rich as it was, China seems less susceptible to real change than it did when the students lit up Tiananmen Square in 1989. China's success is no longer seen as a temporary aberration, a sort of unsustainable balancing act that would sooner or later collapse. It is viewed increasingly by ambitious autocrats everywhere as an alternative model to the vexingly unpredictable Western version. Its biggest recruit is Vladimir Putin's Russia, which steadily tightens its grip on the reins of political power as its business leaders exploit the lucrative opportunities of free global markets.
As Robert Kagan, the neoconservative historian and occasional speechwriter for John McCain, argues persuasively in The New Republic, this is the defining historical struggle of the 21st century.
The stakes seem on the surface somewhat lower than they were in the Cold War, the threats less immediate. China watchers say that what drives Beijing's leaders above all is a determination to survive at the pinnacle of an unwieldy country whose size and diversity represents a constant challenge to its stability. Russia may be increasingly autocratic but it no longer points its missiles at us (we hope).
In many ways, it is the fact that this struggle seems less urgent to us that makes us less well placed to win it than we were in the Cold War. For one thing, despite our fears of Soviet communism, we were never in any sense economically dependent on what that failed system had to offer. Today China, with its vast store of US Treasury bonds has American prosperity in its grip. Russia, with its stranglehold on continental energy resources, can intimidate Europeans. That's why George Bush would never boycott the Beijing Olympics and why the Europeans, in a cringing genuflection to Russian “concerns”, recoiled energetically last week from proposals to expand Nato.
Meanwhile, the global struggle against Islamism weakens the resolve, resources and unity of the West, while Russia and China deflect jihadism's ambitions through useful accommodations with its practitioners in Iran, Syria and Palestine.
Above all, we in the democratic world, fattened by prosperity and complacent in the inevitability of the victory of our values, are more prone than ever to the corrosive luxury of self-questioning: the sort of domestic posturing that results in a mayor of London extolling the virtues of Fidel Castro or Hugo Chávez.
For liberalism to prevail it will not necessarily require open confrontation or military buildup, or even the empty gestures of Olympic boycotts. But it will require a good deal more willingness by the West to defend itself and its interests and to stand up for liberal democracy around the world rather more effectively and enthusiastically than of late.
We shouldn't forget that the outcomes of the struggles between liberal democracy and its enemies were no more predetermined in the 20th century - look at where we stood in 1940 or 1979 - than they are today. It was only thanks to the resilience of Western populations and brilliant statesmanship that our values triumphed then.
Who can be so confident, surveying the state of morale and leadership today, that such a triumph is inevitable in this century?
Read the full article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article3724081.ece
Visit Times Online website:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
6) Former Maoist guerrillas on brink of historic Nepal election victory (The Guardian)
April 14, 2008
Former communist rebels in Nepal appear to be on the brink of a historic sweep in elections that will decide the political future of the Himalayan nation and end the rule of its 239-year-old royal dynasty.
The Maoists' party has won 42 seats and is leading in 58 constituencies, the election commission said in a statement on its website. The traditional politicians, who had expected to win the polls, have been reduced to bit-part players.
The country's oldest and biggest political party, the Nepali Congress, has so far won 13 seats and the Unified Marxist-Leninists, the traditional communist party, had just 14 seats in the latest count.
The vote is the culmination of a peace process that began in 2006 when street protests ended the absolute rule of King Gyanendra.
In the political deal that followed, Maoist guerrillas agreed to a end their 10-year insurgency, which claimed almost 14,000 lives, and enter a UN-sponsored disarmament programme. The guerrillas also returned to politics, shaping pre-election agreements such as the one to abolish the monarchy.
Last week's polling was largely peaceful and more than 60% of the country's 17 million voters cast a ballot. International observers, including the former US president Jimmy Carter, hailed the election as "free and fair".
Analysts say the Maoists proved more than a match for politicians, using a sly mix of propaganda and carefully calibrated street muscle to win over voters fed up with "politics as usual".
"The Maoists promised the Earth to poor, marginalised people and also ran a country-wide campaign of fear and intimidation to win the elections," said Kanak Mani Dixit, editor of Himal magazine. "I thought they would only get 12 seats but I am eating humble pie today. Everybody underestimated them."
Thanks to the complicated electoral system for the 601-seat assembly, which relies on a mix of first past the post and proportional representation, the final results of the poll will not be known for weeks. There are also caste and gender quotas designed to give the new assembly a more representative appearance.
The Maoists want a presidential system to replace the monarchy, which would mean the rebels' founder Comrade Prachanda or Pushpa Kamal Dahal would become the country's supreme leader.
On Saturday Prachanda, whose rebel nom de guerre means "the fierce one", won a seat in the capital Kathmandu. He told reporters the Maoists were "committed to the peace process and multi-party democracy and to rebuild this country."
However, experts say a decisive win for the Maoists would be potentially destabilising for the region. In their manifesto, they called for scrapping all major treaties, especially those with New Delhi, and stopping the recruitment of Nepali Gurkhas in British and Indian armies. The US still lists the Maoists as a "terrorist" group.
"We have some big issues here. The United States and India are not going to be comfortable with a Nepal dominated by Maoists," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of Samaya newspaper. "I can see a serious problem if the Maoists try to force their soldiers into the Nepalese army. It is what they want but nobody else does."
Read the full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/14/tibet
Visit The Guardian website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
7) Zimbabwe election battle turns to partial recount (Reuters)
April 18, 2008
Zimbabwean election officials are expected on Saturday to begin a partial recount of votes from the March 29 elections despite opposition protests and widespread fears political stalemate could erupt in violence.
The recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, which showed President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF losing its majority to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for the first time.
Results of the presidential election have not been released.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission has said some foreign observers will be allowed to monitor the recount, which has aroused widespread concerns in the West that Mugabe's government is planning to rig the outcome.
A delegation from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community will be present, with South Africa's foreign affairs deputy director-general for Africa, Kingsley Mamabolo, leading the mission.
"It is part of the SADC observer mission to count and verify the votes in the election," Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs, said.
It is unclear when the recount, which includes votes cast in the presidential election, will be completed or when results will be issued.
The ruling ZANU-PF triggered the procedure after it formally accused election officials of taking bribes to undercount votes for Mugabe and his ruling party and committing other electoral fraud. A number of election officials have been arrested since.
The MDC, which has declared victory in both the parliamentary and presidential races, unsuccessfully tried to stop the recount. The Harare High Court on Friday rejected its bid to do so.
The court had previously rejected an MDC effort to force authorities to release the result of the presidential vote.
The delay in announcing results has given rise to opposition fears the recount could be a ploy by Mugabe's government to steal the election. The security of the ballot boxes is a concern that could cloud or even tarnish the recount.
The MDC and some international observers accused Mugabe of rigging the last presidential election in 2002, and there are growing calls on the 84-year-old veteran to guarantee a clean result in this poll.
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has brushed aside the pressure from London, Washington and elsewhere and is preparing for an expected second ballot run-off against Tsvangirai.
The veteran ruler went on the attack on Friday, accusing Britain of paying Zimbabweans to turn against his government.
"Down with the British. Down with thieves who want to steal our country," Mugabe told 15,000 cheering supporters who gathered in a stadium on the outskirts of Harare to mark independence day.
"Today they have perfected their tactics to a more subtle form by using money literally to buy some people to turn against their government. We are being bought like livestock," Mugabe said in his first major speech since the elections.
The carnival atmosphere in the stadium contrasted with the poverty outside, where the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy and inflation of about 165,000 percent have led to chronic shortages of water, food and fuel, and 80 percent unemployment.
Read the full article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1690063020080418?virtualBrandChannel=10010&sp=true
Visit Reuters website:
http://www.reuters.com/
8) Conservatives win Iran elections, but Ahmadinejad critics make gains (International Herald Tribune)
April 27, 2008
Although conservatives won the majority of the seats in Parliament as expected, critics of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also made a strong showing, according to results released over the weekend, suggesting he could face opposition in the presidential campaign next year.
Ahmadinejad is expected to seek re-election.
Conservatives won nearly 70 percent of the seats in the voting, which concluded Friday. But that group includes many people who oppose Ahmadinejad's economic policies. Reformists, who favor more political and social openness, also did relatively well.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the departing interior minister, said Saturday that 198 of the 290 seats went to the conservatives and 47 to reformist candidates, local news agencies in Iran reported. Reformists control 40 seats in the current Parliament.
The Guardian Council, a group of clerics and lawyers who oversee elections, barred many prominent reformists from running.
Independent candidates not affiliated with any political faction won more than 40 seats. In Tehran, only one of the 30 winners was a reformist.
Pourmohammadi said the results would be final after the Guardian Council confirmed them.
Parliamentary elections were held in March, but runoffs were held Friday to decide the fate of 82 remaining seats in Tehran and other parts of the country.
Read the full article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/27/mideast/iran.php
Visit International Herald Tribune website:
http://www.iht.com/
|
1) Internship Programme at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (International)
The aim of the internship is to increase the intern's understanding of current human rights issues at the international level and give an insight into the work of the United Nations and OHCHR in particular and provide OHCHR and the United Nations Human Rights mechanisms with the assistance and contribution of outstanding students or graduates.
Interns will be involved, inter alia, in: researching human rights issues, drafting analytical papers and reports, providing substantive and technical servicing of meetings, preventing backlog from fact-finding and technical cooperation activities as well as field operations and supporting other OHCHR activities.
Participants must be graduate students and holders of graduate level degrees in disciplines related to the work of the United Nations, e.g. International law, Political Science, History, Social Sciences. Preference will be given to those who have specialized in human rights issues.
United Nations internships are not remunerated. Travel costs and living expenses must be met by the interns themselves. Applicants must be sponsored by an academic institution and must have a good command of at least two of the six official languages of the United Nations, i.e. English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
Internships are for a minimum period of three months and may be renewed once for a further three-month period. Interns are selected twice a year
Application deadline: April 30 and October 31, 2008
For more information, please, visit: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/hchr/genif.htm.
2) Alliance of Civilizations Youth Solidarity Fund (International)
To support youth-led initiatives that promote long-term constructive relationships between young people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) has launched a Youth Solidarity Fund.
The Fund will provide seed funding in amounts up to 20,000 USD to a very small number of outstanding youth-led projects to promote intercultural and inter-religious exchanges, youth leadership training, and youth voices in the media.
The AoC is placing great emphasis on funding projects that have long-term outcomes and that connect youth from previously unconnected communities with a view to overcoming perceived or real cultural and religious divides.
The AoC will only fund projects that are entirely managed by youth for the benefit of youth. The age definition used by the AoC is persons between 18 and 30 years old.
The AoC Secretariat is managing the Fund and is working with partners and a youth advisory committee to ensure youth participation in the selection of projects for funding. The AoC will strive to ensure a geographic and thematic balance among selected projects. The deadline for submitting applications is April 30, 2008. Successful applicants will be notified in June 2008.
For more information and the application form, please, visit:
http://www.unaoc.org/content/view/93/128/lang,english or contact pavlyuchenko [at] un.org.
3) Seen and Heard Awards (International)
The purpose of Seen and Heard Awards, established as a partnership project of the British Telecom and the UK Youth Parliament, is to recognize and reward the achievements of young people from all over the globe who have made a real difference to their own lives and the lives of others. The organizers also recognize adults who have listened to and acted upon the voices of young people.
Seen and Heard 2008 is looking to recognize young people who have used their communication skills to tackle an issue that's important to them; and adults who have made a positive difference to young people's lives.
Those selected as winners will be invited to the ceremony, meet the other participants and learn about their projects. Besides, your story will make part of the report "Seen and Heard – 2008" which is going to be published.
To nominate yourself or another young person, you can either download a PDF entry form (http://www.btbetterworld.com/media/Seen and heard awards/seen and heard application form.pdf) or enter online (http://www.btbetterworld.com/giving_young_people_a_voice/seen_and_heard_awards/application_form).
To nominate an adult or organization who has helped young people be Seen and Heard, please tell us, in no more than 500 words, why you think they deserve an award. Send your nomination to seenandheard [at] bt.com.
The applications are accepted till May 9.
For more information, please, visit: http://www.btbetterworld.com/.
4) YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Program (International)
Launched in 2001 by the International Youth Foundation, YouthActionNet strengthens, supports, and celebrates the role of young people in leading positive change in their communities.
Each year 20 exceptional young social entrepreneurs are selected for a year-long fellowship program that provides opportunities in skill-building, networking, and advocacy.
Young people (ages 18 to 29) with a proficiency in English and working to bring about positive societal change in their communities are eligible to apply.
The opportunity includes: a seven-day, all-expenses paid, capacity-building retreat in Washington, D.C. on November 1-8, 2008; development of a customized learning plan based on individual leadership learning needs; networking with international and national aid agencies, NGOs, and corporate partners; training in communications and media outreach; public relations technical assistance, etc. Global Fellows also have access to potential funding opportunities.
Applications are due till May 22, 2008, the results of the selection process will be announced on August 1, 2008.
For more information, please, visit: http://youthactionnet.org/index.php?fuse=fellowmainpage
|
